Review of the novel Codex written by Lev Grossman

Book Review: Codex by Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman grasps the reader’s attention with this electrifying, and remarkable piece of work.  A thriller in its actual sense, Grossman combines the art of third person limited narration, using the pronouns "he" and "she," with the story being told alternately from different characters' points of view. He switches from one character's point of view to another's, although making sure to limit experiences, observations and thoughts to those of the character narrating the story at that point in the book.

Lev Grossman was born in 1969 and grew up in Lexington in MA, in Boston. A Harvard graduate, with a degree in Literature, and currently with a impressive, rich history as a writer and book reviewer for internationally accredited media houses like New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and Time Magazine, he has certainly used his skills to his advantage. He is a twin brother of video game designer and novelist Austin Grossman. Again it seems he combines the knowledge he has about video games and novels, to produce this fast-paced thriller.

The book is about a man by the name of Edward Wozny, who is a personal banker but is hired by a rich family to help them inventory their library. He is further tasked with a mission to find a book; a manuscript or codex, believed to be valuable and could be worth well over millions of dollars, which is probably stashed among the massive volumes of books in the library. As he ventures into the search for the book, he discovers that there is an inimitable link between the book and a computer game that he has been taught by his friend, Zeph.

As he rummages through the library, and moving around in other libraries gathering all he can get about the book, he meets Margret, a graduate student who is also working on literary work on the same book Edward is looking for. Together they put will and heart into the search, at one point spending a night in an underground safe in library, although Margret trusts the book is a just a hoax and there is a chance it never existed.

The game, called Momus, which seems to have many links to reality, unveils a lot of secrets to Edward. The more he plays the game, the closer he gets to unearth the truth. He integrates these clues with the astounding knowledge that Margret has on the history of the book and its writer, Gervase of Langford, who had a lot of his secrets hidden in his piece of work, and needed someone who could interpret hidden codes. Thus Margret comes in to the rescue, as someone who has read literally anything she could lay her hands on.

Lev Grossman has put together a Best Seller indeed. Besides being glued to your hands, the book simply keeps the reader on the edge, the suspense driving you to want to know more. You only wish you never had to put it down. Like the name of the book, the Codex, which means an ancient manuscript in book form, perfectly suits the novel as you feel you are reading a manuscript itself and you are bound to uncover the truth. The story unfolds right in your hands, as you drift through the medieval days of Codex, written by Gervase, at the same time enjoying the addictive literature in the Codex by Lev Grossman.